Nemesis
by Ellipsis the Great
Summary: They say that if you go to Lethe Mansion, you either end up with amnesia…or you disappear forever…CHARACTER DEATH. NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART!
1. Part 1

Nemesis (1) Part 1/3

_A Short Story by Ellipsis the Great_

_**Summary: **__They say that if you go to Lethe Mansion, you either end up with amnesia…or you disappear forever…_

_**DISCLAIMER:**__ Kingdom Hearts and everything affiliated with it belongs to SquareEnix and Disney. All I own is the plot…_

_**Rated:**__ M just in case._

_**Theme:**__ 2. Wedding_

"They say that old mansion is haunted." Pence whispered in an attempted-spooky voice, holding a flashlight up to his face.

"Psh." Axel snorted.

"Let him tell the story." Roxas hissed.

"Supposedly," Pence continued, ignoring them. "A young woman used to live there."

"Oooh, scary." Axel said. "A young woman!"

"Shut _up_, Axel!" Roxas elbowed his boyfriend none-too-gently.

"One day, a young man came and began to court her." Pence said, still ignoring the squabbling couple. "After a time, they decided to get married. But on their wedding day, the man met another girl and ran away with her, completely forgetting about the young woman. Distraught, the woman hung herself from her balcony."

"But her spirit lives on." Axel whispered. Roxas snarled at him.

"But her spirit lives on!" Pence said dramatically, having not heard Axel's comment.

Axel snickered.

"The family that moved into the house a few years later left after only a week, saying they often saw her angry ghost flitting about, throwing things at the wife and pushing the husband around, once nearly causing him to fall down the stairs."

Axel, for once, was quiet, his eyebrows arching upward.

"After that, a young man went into the house on a dare. When he came back out, he couldn't even remember his own name." Pence said. "There were a few other similar instances, and even a few disappearances. Some say the disappearances are just people who forgot everything and wandered off to who knows where. Others say the ghost killed them as revenge on her lost lover. But it was because of the lost memories that the place became known as Lethe Mansion (2)."

"I always wondered about that." Hayner said thoughtfully.

"That…has got to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard." Axel said. "Don't tell me people actually _believe_ that bullshit?"

"It's true!" Pence said.

"It _is_ a really creepy place." Olette admitted.

"It's an urban legend." Axel said. "Got it _memorized_?"

"No! It really _is_ haunted!" Pence insisted. "You can go look for yourself if you don't believe me."

"Maybe I will." Axel sneered at him.

Roxas rolled his eyes. "Would you mind _not_ being an ass, for once? Honestly…"

Axel smiled at him. "But I'm _your_ ass, Roxie!" He practically sang, making a complete turn around from his formerly disdainful visage.

Another eye roll. "Shove off, you big palooka."

They all laughed and returned to telling cheesy ghost stories. By the time they were finished, Axel had a severely bruised side and Roxas' eyes wouldn't stop rolling.

Then, later that night, after everyone had fallen asleep, Axel peeked his eyes open. Once he was sure they were all definitely sleeping, he carefully extracted himself from Roxas' arms (the little guy was surprisingly clingy when he was asleep). He changed back into his clothes silently, and nicked Pence's digital camera off his nightstand. Then, smirking, he left the house.

(PAGEBREAK,Y'KNOW?)

"It's kinda creepy looking." Axel muttered to himself as he peered up at the mansion. He lifted the digital camera up and snapped a quick picture before he opened the creaky gates and slipped into the grounds.

The crickets' chirping grew quieter the closer he got the house, but he pretended not to notice. He could only stare at the rickety door for a moment, but quickly recovered, re-grew his balls, took a picture, and entered the house.

He took more pictures of the inside of the mansion.

"Ghosts. Pshaw." He said, and though he had been trying to disregard the fear that was roiling around in his gut, he couldn't quite ignore the huge shiver that went up his back when he heard:

"Sora?"

Shaking just a little, he turned. A small woman looked up at him. She was pretty, with blue eyes not unlike Roxas' and long blonde hair swept to one side. But she was wearing a rather tattered white dress, and her image was glowing and shifting in an eerie, not-at-all natural way.

"Wh-who are you?" He asked, his throat dry.

Her face scrunched up prettily. "Don't you remember me, Sora?"

"I-I'm not Sora." He forced himself to say. In his irrational fear, he was imagining that the shadows were coming alive around him, dancing around him and the girl and watching them with glowing yellow eyes.

"So do you remember me?" She asked, brightening up just a little.

"N-no. I'm sorry, but I don't know who you are." He said as genuinely as he could manage through the panic that was settling in.

"You've forgotten me." She said, dismayed.

"I never knew you, lady." He said.

"Why do they always forget?" She asked. "Why? Why, _why_, _WHY_?!"

He gasped, and would have screamed if his throat hadn't closed up so tightly. All that managed to escape was a little squeak as the air around began to whip around her, an ungodly shriek ripping through the house.

"I'll make you remember me! I'll MAKE YOU!" She screeched. Blood dripped down onto her dress; bruises appeared around her throat, and with sudden, adrenaline-induced clarity Axel realized that it wasn't fear that was making it hard to breathe—

_There was a rope around his neck!_

He managed to choke out a single, desperate yell before the shadows descended and he saw no more.

END PART 1

(1) Nemesis: A spirit of divine punishment in Greek mythology.

(2) Lethe Mansion: From the Lethe River, a river in Greek mythology that was basically supposed to wipe your memories.


	2. Part 2

Nemesis Part 2/3

_A Short Story by Ellipsis the Great_

_**Summary: **__They say that if you go to Lethe Mansion, you either end up with amnesia…or you disappear forever…_

_**DISCLAIMER:**__ Kingdom Hearts and everything affiliated with it belongs to SquareEnix and Disney. All I own is the plot…_

_**Rated:**__ M just in case._

_**Theme:**__ 2. Wedding_

When Roxas woke up, he was immediately aware of the absence of Axel's familiar heat beside him. Groaning at the lack of warmth, he groped about for his boyfriend for a moment before blearily creaking his eyes open. He yawned and sat up, peering around the mostly dark room. Scratching himself, he stood and made his way out of the room, carefully avoiding Hayner's still-sleeping form.

Roxas yawned, and was about to enter the kitchen when he heard an odd noise in the living room. It sounded like chattering teeth, as if someone was freezing cold—but the house was actually pretty warm.

"Axel?" He murmured as he ventured into the living room, wondering (not for the first time) why the only light switch for this room was the one beside the door to the front porch.

Something moved, and in the darkness he could just make out the figure on the couch, shivering as it rocked back and forth, mumbling nonsensically.

"Axel," And it _was_ Axel on the couch; even in the dark he could see the older man's wild red hair. "Quit dicking around, you asshole."

He finally reached the other side of the room and flicked the lights on, jumping a mile high when the man on the couch screamed bloody murder.

"The fuck happened?" Hayner yelped as he stumbled out of the guest room. Pence was close behind him, coming from his room, and Olette trailed along after them from the second guest room.

"I don't know!" Roxas exclaimed, staring at Axel, who had returned to rocking and muttering.

"I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry…" He could finally understand the words coming from his jittery boyfriend's mouth. "I didn't mean to forget I didn't mean to forget I didn't mean to forget I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry please leave me alone leave me alone leave me alone I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry…"

"Axel." Roxas growled. "This isn't funny." He grabbed Axel's arm, jerking away when another of those screams erupted from his boyfriend's mouth.

"I'm sorry I'm sorry _I'm sorry_!" Axel sobbed, curling up into himself.

"Axel, seriously." Roxas tried again, this time just touching the redhead gently on the arm.

Axel started, as if he hadn't known someone else was in the room with him, and looked up at Roxas, eyes wide and full of nothing—absolutely _nothing_—except fear.

"Oh my God! Look at his neck!" Olette screeched, hands flying up to cover her mouth.

The three (lucid) boys did, gasping at the deep, ragged rope marks going around Axel's neck. When they looked back up at his face, he was crying.

His tears were bloody.

Olette ran into the bathroom and vomited.

"Axel, what happened to you?" Roxas asked shakily.

"I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry please don't hurt me anymore. Please, please leave me alone!"

"Axel, we aren't going to hurt you. I just want to know what happened! Who did this to you?"

"I don't remember. I'm so sorry, I don't remember." Axel said, curling up again.

"I'm going to call an ambulance." Pence said, sounding as sick as Olette was.

Roxas nodded without actually answering and crouched by Axel's side. "Axel…Axel, please, talk to me. What happened?"

"Who's Axel? I don't remember. I don't know what happened to him. Just leave me alone, please!" Sobs shook Axel's body.

"Holy shit." Hayner said shakily. "Did he…did he go to Lethe Mansion?"

"Axel, if you're just fucking around about that stupid ghost story, this _isn't funny_!" Roxas said.

Axel started crying harder.

"Goddammit." Roxas cursed, standing up again and running a hand through his hair.

As Axel started rocking again, though, something fell out of the pocket of his jacket.

"Pence's camera?" Roxas mused, picking it up. "Hmm…ah, hell, he _did_ go to the mansion. Look at this…gates, door, inside, inside…that's all, though."

"No, look." Hayner took the camera and fiddled with some of the buttons. "There's a video."

"He must've made it on accident—he can hardly figure out how to take pictures with this thing; forget making a video with it." Roxas said as the video started up. It was black (probably Axel had accidentally pressed a button while the camera was in his pocket), but they could still hear noises.

There was a wispy sound, almost like a voice but not quite loud enough to be one.

"_Wh-who are you?" _Axel's voice asked.

The weird sound again.

"_I-I'm not Sora."_

"_Fssssh."_

"_N-no. I'm sorry, but I don't know who you are."_

"_Fsssssh."_

"_I never knew you, lady."_

"_Fssssssssh—y, _why, WHY?!_"_

Hayner and Roxas jumped as they could suddenly hear a woman's voice from within the wispy noises. On the couch, Axel froze.

"_I'll make you remember me! I'll MAKE YOU!"_

Axel screamed, tearing wildly at his throat as his legs kicked out, like he was trying to escape something. Roxas dropped the camera, both he and Hayner staring at it as the shadowy figure of a girl—or some grotesque semblance of a girl—broke slowly out of it, crawling toward Axel.

"What the fuck?" Roxas shouted.

The girl-thing looked at them, eyes bluer than blue and so ghoulish that Roxas nearly wet himself. Hayner was motionless beside him from fear. Axel kept screaming, getting louder and louder as the thing's attention returned to him.

"_Remember me! Remember me! REMEMBER ME!_" The girl-thing shrieked at him, and suddenly flew forward, grabbing the still screaming man and pulling him back into the camera so quickly Roxas and Hayner didn't have any time to even think about moving. Blood spurted upward—not too much but enough to leave a pretty wide radius of spray on the carpet.

"OhmyGodOhmyGodOhmyGodOhmyGod." Hayner yelled.

"What—_holy shit_!" Pence said as he reentered the room. Olette, thankfully, hadn't come back out of the bathroom yet. They could still hear her retching.

"Pence, call the police. I'm going to Lethe Mansion." Roxas said, grabbing a jacket.

"Dude, you can't!" Hayner said, grabbing his arm.

Roxas gave him one of _those looks_. The ones that could make a person feel like an idiot at only a passing glance, much less what they made a person feel when it was directed right at them.

"…Can't go alone." Hayner amended lamely. "I'll go with you."

Roxas nodded and headed toward the door, opening it.

"Roxas, Hayner…" They looked at Olette, who looked pale and shaky as she finally returned from the bathroom. "Be careful you guys. Okay? This is…this is all really weird."

"We will, 'Lette." Hayner assured her with a small wave, then both he and Roxas stepped out of the doorway and into the cold night air.

END PART 2


	3. Part 3

Nemesis Part 3/3

_A Short Story by Ellipsis the Great_

_**Summary: **__They say that if you go to Lethe Mansion, you either end up with amnesia…or you disappear forever…_

_**DISCLAIMER:**__ Kingdom Hearts and everything affiliated with it belongs to SquareEnix and Disney. All I own is the plot…_

_**Rated:**__ M just in case._

_**Theme:**__ 2. Wedding_

"This place has always given me the creeps." Hayner said with a shiver as they approached Lethe Mansion.

"Yeah, well, let's just go in, find Axel, and get out." Roxas said, suppressing a shiver of his own.

Hayner nodded wordlessly, dragging the door open and letting Roxas enter first.

"Should've waited until later in the day." Roxas murmured as he observed the way the morning light reflected across the decrepit insides of the mansion.

"I'll say." Hayner said, stepping closer to his friend.

"Sora?"

As one, they turned. Standing there was a forlorn girl in a ragged white dress, her soulful blue eyes piercing the two in a way that immediately reminded them of the _thing_ that had taken Axel.

"You!" Roxas said, balling his hands into fists. "What did you do with Axel?"

"You came back to me, Sora." The girl said, smiling ethereally and taking a step toward them.

"You stay away from us!" Hayner hissed, standing protectively in front of Roxas. "I don't know who you are _or_ who Sora is—we just came to get Axel back!"

The girl's face fell. "You…don't remember me?" She didn't seem to register that there were two of them.

"Where's Axel?" Hayner demanded.

"You don't remember me." She sighed. "Oh, Sora, why don't you ever remember me?"

"Because I'm not Sora, you stupid bitch!" Hayner said.

"You never remember." She groaned, putting her head in her hands. "You…n-never remember me…!"

The girl's entire visage shimmered, an eerie groan sounding out in the air around her. Axel suddenly appeared beside her, dangling from the ceiling, his wrists held up by thin wires.

"Axel!" Roxas exclaimed.

"I thought that maybe, if I brought this nasty, conniving home wrecker here, you would break out of her spell and come back to me." The girl said, reaching up and grabbing Axel's head. "If I kill her, the spell will break."

"No! You leave Axel alone!" Roxas said.

The girl stopped. "Will you come to me? Leave her, and be mine again? Like it was always supposed to be?" She asked, letting Axel's head drop back to his chest.

Hayner shook his head at his best friend, but Roxas was already nodding.

"Yes, anything. Just don't hurt him! I'll do anything you want—!" Roxas gasped as the girl moved forward so quickly that even Hayner, standing further away, didn't see her do it.

"Say my name." The girl said, a manic smile crossing over her face.

"I…I…" He sputtered.

"You have to _remember me_, Sora." She whimpered. "If we're going to be together, you have to snap out of her spell and remember me!"

"I'm sorry." He said, a sob tearing out of his throat.

"Oh, Sora." More strings, like the wire used to control a marionette, appeared, wrapping around Axel and tightening until thin lines of blood appeared. "It looks like I _will_ have to kill the little cunt to break the spell."

"Please don't." He said.

"I'm sorry." She said.

Roxas was frozen watching, but Hayner let out a strangled cry as the girl made a short motion with her hand and the strings went taut. Axel hung in the air for a moment, as if frozen in time. And then, slowly, Axel's head slid from his body, which crumbled to the ground in several pieces.

"Oh, God. Oh, God, no." Roxas choked out.

"Holy shit! Holy shit!" Hayner stammered.

"Do you remember me, now, Sora?" The girl asked.

"No, no, no." Roxas moaned, dropping to his knees.

The girl frowned. "You…still don't remember?"

Behind her, the wires that had cut him apart were now tearing into Axel's skin, sewing the pieces back together.

"Axel…shit, Axel…" Roxas said.

The girl's eyes narrowed, and she turned her gaze on Hayner.

"You!" She snarled. "_You're_ the one casting a spell on him! My poor Sora, forced to forget our wonderful, beautiful love because of your selfishness!"

"I don't even know who you or that other kid are!" Hayner said.

"Kill him!" She shrieked, motioning at the newly finished Axel-doll.

Something…a voice, an instinct, a spirit…bubbled up in Roxas' throat as the Axel-doll straightened and turned glowing green eyes on Hayner.

"Naminé, stop!" He said.

The Axel-doll looked at him and gave him a smirk that was both familiar and completely strange to him at the same time.

"Simply amazing." The doll snickered, its voice impossibly animated, both Axel's and the girl's at the same time. "You really _do_ remember this time! I'm so _flattered_!"

"Leave Hayner alone!" Roxas yelled as the doll turned on Hayner again.

"But you're too late!" The Axel-doll screeched, and shot forward.

Hayner tried to dodge, but the thing easily followed his movements. Its arm thrust upward, impaling the body before it, and Naminé screamed as she realized—too late—that Roxas had thrown himself in front of the doppelganger.

Roxas and the Axel-doll stared at each other, still connected by the doll's arm in Roxas' chest.

"R-Roxas?" Hayner's eyes were wide.

"Run." Roxas whispered, reaching into the doll's pocket and pulling out Axel's infamous lighter.

Naminé started screaming even more as Roxas flicked the lighter on and set himself and Axel on fire.

"Burn, baby." Roxas whispered, throwing his arms around the flaming doll and kissing him.

"Roxas!" Hayner sputtered.

Naminé turned on him, eyes wide with desperation and madness and fear. With one last look at the embracing couple, he shook his head, turned, and ran, leaving the slowly burning house and its insane ghostly resident behind.

"_You were supposed to remember me, Sora, not die—!"_

THE END…?

_A/N: :is oddly satisfied with terrible ending: I hate endings that make sense, I do, I do. :claps hands: (LOL, yay random Peter Pan references!) Much prefer leaving it open to interpretation. X-)_

_Review Responses:_

_Minikimii: Yeah, me, too…I should start making sense when I write things…lol. (btw, frownpouts is the best verb ever. XD)_

_FinalFallenFantasy: …Neither? Heh. I'm glad you enjoyed it! And, yeah, totally got some weird heartless going on, there, lmao._

_Hope everyone enjoyed it! Don't forget to check out the coverart on my deviantArt page!_

_Love you guys! -EtheG_


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